Three Women in the Darkness

Lured: the Curse of the Swans – The Right Brain Project

When the houselights dim and the audience settles in to enjoy the performance of a play, all they’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. Most patrons are only treated to the end product of a lot of work. They’re unaware of all that’s happened prior to this moment. The amount of time, talent and funding that goes into producing a play is much greater than most theatergoers can fully comprehend. What they’re seeing is a labor of love.

A play is chosen or commissioned by theatre company, a director is appointed and a cast and creative team are chosen. Pre-production meetings examine what the director needs, based upon his vision for his production. This includes a set, lighting, sound, props, costumes and other demands, such as fight or intimacy choreography, dialect coaching, original music and, of course, a dramaturg who’ll provide the necessary research to make the production authentic and come to life realistically. But all of this is part of what makes art happen.

Given that it’s recognized how much work must’ve gone into this modest production, the biggest problem it has is the script. Becca Holloway is a competent director. She’s demonstrated her talent in working with both original and proven scripts. Her work has been enjoyed at such illustrious non-union theatre companies as Refuge, Broken Nose, Hell in a Handbag, Red Theater and even here with the Right Brain Project. Ms. Holloway says that what drew her to this script was that it was a play with an all-female cast. That’s an admirable, exciting and worthwhile mission, but there are certainly much better and more stimulating, cohesive plays that feature a cast primarily of women.

Playwright Terry Boyle holds credentials that support his intelligence and passion for Irish literature and theatre. His play claims to be a fusion of Irish folklore and the contemporary world, which is also exciting and admirable. But the production that audiences saw on opening night didn’t captivate nor did it really fulfill the playwright’s claim.

Three women emerge from the darkness and perform some kind of pantomime dance, while a disembodied male voice narrates an Irish legend. When the lights finally dim on two of the women, Sylvie Sadarnac, as Grainne, the mother of the two other younger women, delivers an long monologue that’s more confusing than enlightening, particularly after the mime we just witnessed. The lights dim a bit on Grainne, and she begins folding clothes and futzing about in the darkness.

Then the lights rise up down center on Maeve, Grainne’s eldest daughter. We figure out, from her monologue, that the three women will soon be leaving together on a trip to Ireland. Eventually Maeve, strongly played by company member Liz Goodson, calls her younger sister, Deirdre, nice portrayed by Annabella De Meo. We discover through their conversation that Maeve is in a lesbian relationship with an African American woman. We also learn that Deirdre is pregnant with the child of a disinterested young man who’s engaged to someone else. Soon afterwards, Grainne phones Maeve and Deirdre together, speaking to them both via a three-way conference call. 

The phone conversations aren’t really all that interesting, although through them the audience learns a variety of information about the three women. The trite dialogue is profusely seasoned with four letter words and a lot of unnecessary profanity. After hearing the F-word endlessly bantered about, the audience soon tires of being verbally assaulted. The conversation becomes redundant and, even worse, impersonal. This play could simply be an audiobook because, except for the final moment, the three women never interact with each other. They don’t ever look or touch and never come together as an ensemble cast. All they do is argue and harangue each other, in the end decide that their trip to Ireland will provide a necessary break from their personal problems.

It’s never clear where the Curse of the Swans comes in (except for a large, bizarre swan puppet that Maeve caresses). That prop brought back images of Bjork’s strangely iconic swan dress of several years ago. The set is a black box with a couple of wooden blocks that serve as stools or a small table. There’s some suitcases and clothing lying around to provide some stage business for the women. Otherwise, this is simply 90 minutes of three confusing character portraits that don’t seem to go anywhere.

For all the hard work that must’ve gone into bringing this production from page to stage, the end result simply doesn’t justify the effort. This is a simply a disappointing production. The biggest problem is Terry Boyle’s script. Becca Holloway has stayed true to the playwright’s intent; the three actors do a commendable job with what they’re given; the tech support, especially a colorful sound design, created by Danny Rockett, is fine. In the end, the audience will come away with only the memory of three women in the darkness.  

Somewhat Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented March 21-April 6 by The Right Brain Project at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2963 N. Southport Ave., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the Athenaeum box office or by going to https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1005751.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.